0604 Fort Vulgar and the Galoshers’ Pool
HexDolmenwood Campaign Book · p.251
Open source p.251Tangled woods of holly and hawthorn, riddled with muddy mires and ponds ringed with thorny reeds.
Tangled woods of holly and hawthorn, riddled with muddy mires and ponds ringed with thorny reeds.
- Terrain: Thorny forest (4), Dwelmfurgh
- Lost/encounters: 3-in. Encounters are 2-in likely to be with galoshers in the vicinity of a pond.
- Within the Ring of Chell (p20): True fairies are afflicted with a spiritual malaise; teleportation and summoning are ineffectual; magic of illusion or charm has a 2-in chance of failure.
Fort Vulgar
An old stone keep overlooks a village and ramshackle dock, where barge-folk and merchants congregate to trade. Few folk permanently reside here.
Chappily bridge: Spans Quogg's Creek at Fort Vulgar.
Big Chook: Fort Vulgar lives in the shadow of the lake monster known as Big Chook, whose mind-wrenching wails can be heard from the settlement.
Full settlement description: See p146.
The Galoshers’ Pool
In the briar-choked western reaches of this hex lies a shallow pool of muddy, black water, 100 yards across, rimmed with frothing green scum.
Approaching: Coming near to the shore attracts the attention of the 6 galoshers (DMB) that dwell in the mud. Initially a single monster emerges, but the others soon arrive if commotion ensues.
Bodies in the mud: Submerged in the mud around the shore are a multitude of humanoid bones, the partially preserved corpses of 3 travellers (each with gp), and the still-living Gherigew Thorncripe, in suspended animation and surrounded by a swarm of feeding galosher lampreys (see Dream feeding under Galoshers, DMB).
Gherigew Thorncripe (Level 6 Bard)
A dashing human man in his early 30s, with twirled moustache, pointy beard, curly chestnut hair, and twinkling grey eyes. Dresses in leather woodland garb, a crimson cape, and a green bycocket hat. Soaked, filthy, and delirious after being submerged in the Galoshers’ Pool for months.
Demeanour (Neutral): Merry, sentimental, vain. Preens his moustache.
Speech: Eloquent and poetic. Woldish, Old Woldish, butchered Sylvan.
Desires: To behold the fabled beauty of the Lady of Spring Unending (0402). To hunt with Duke Mai-Fleur (p30). If rescued: to explain his long absence to his lover in Prigwort, Maydrid Hydball (p178), with an epic song detailing his imprisonment (which he has already begun composing).
Possessions: A gold-inlaid lute (500gp), an emerald-pommelled Fairy Shortsword (p412), a sealed tube containing arcane scrolls of Levitate and Paralysation, a bronze and violet garnet brooch in the form of an ivy leaf (1,000gp).
Reward: If rescued, Thorncripe offers his eternal gratitude and service to the PCs (though is likely to be distracted by his own quests before long).